He spent most of his life on the Isle of Wight (ENG), where he first married Sarah PEACH at Carisbrooke in 1813. It would be interesting to know how and why he moved to the Isle of Wight, possibly he was in military service during the Napoleonic wars?
Through the certificate of his second marriage in 1858, I know his father's name to be Cornelius KEARLEY, a fell monger, deceased.
The census information (1841 - 1861) is inconsistent as far as his birthplace is concerned,
1841 gives it as Hampshire,
1851 as Dorset,
whereas 1861 has it as Cranborn (sic) in Dorset.
The law of averages would therefore point to Dorset!
He died in 1866 and his death certificate gives his age as 75.
I have checked the Cranborne parish registers but cannot find a likely candidate, this may not be surprising as there are clues that he belonged to the Congregational Church and therefore may not necessarily be found in Church of England parish registers.
If Cornelius's baptism did take place in the Church of England, it would seem likely that it actually took place in Horton, this remains pure speculation of course.
If you have any comments or corrections to make, please send me an E-mail. Many thanks!
The marriage took place on 14th April 1835 at Alverstoke, HAM, ENG.
The first one is that of the aforementioned Cornelius KEARLEY.
Can you read the signature of the second witness (i.e. the last line)?
If you have the time (and the bandwidth), this is the entire document (1141 Kb).
This is what I believe to be the entry of his baptism at Newport, IOW, ENG on 27 Nov 1706.
I have here a further extract from the same page.
Although it's not directly related to my question, it does provide another sample of the same handwriting.
If you have any ideas about the name of William's father, please send me an E-mail. Many thanks!
Tricky Questions
Cornelius KEARLEY (c1791 - 1866)
I am looking for the place of birth/baptism of my 3x great-grandfather Cornelius KEARLEY in the early 1790's in Dorset (ENG).
Broadening the search to neighbouring parishes shows that on 26th February 1792 a Cornelius and Rachel KERLEY having a child Cornelius baptised at nearby Horton.
Intriguingly, a Cornelius and Rachel KERLEY (not necessarily the same people of course) had children baptised in Cranborne during the period 1776 - 1782.
A Cornelius KERLEY and Rachel READ were married at nearby Edmondsham on 1st May 1768 and it would appear they had children baptised there during the period 1769 - 1774.
A Cornelius KERLY was buried at Edmondsham in 1822 aged 73, he may well have been Rachel's husband.
On a mischieveous note, on 15th June 1820, a Cornelius KERLY crops up in the Dorchester Assizes Records "having in his possession one fallow deer within the liberty of Cranborne Chase, imprisonment 6 months unless a penalty of £20 besides 15s be sooner paid".
If this was indeed the father of Cornelius KEARLEY, this would be stretching the definition of fell monger which was used in his
marriage certificate!
William HARBOURN(E) (1813 - 1879)
William HARBOURN(E), my 2x great-grandfather, married Sarah KEARLEY, daughter of the above Cornelius KEARLEY.
This is an extract of the marriage document.
It shows the signatures of both bride and groom, followed by those of the witnesses.
If so, I would very much like to hear from you!
William BAN(N)ISTER (c1706 - 1798)
William BAN(N)ISTER, my 6x great-grandfather, remains a very intriguing mystery man.
Unfortunately, I cannot say for sure what the name of his father is.
It would seem that some kind of correction was made. What do you think it says?
